Parley and Betrayal
by CII
Summary: Nearly a year after the incident with Imperial Admiral 'Zhabothee, Fleet Master Telek 'Herosee captures three Marines but he decides to let them go, but that decision comes at a price, his execusion.


I don't own Halo, just my speculations about it. This is a continuation of that alternate universe.

**Parley and Betrayal**

_**1508 Hours, July 4, 2546 (Military Calendar)\PX-067**_

_**Ninth Age of Reclamation**_

From the last attack, Telek managed to acquire several human objects, including a dart board to which he placed the image of Truth over. He had it hung up on his wall inside his ready room and he would often occupy himself with it, throwing darts at the Prophet, especially after several transmissions on the local channels on how the Covenant was close to embarking on the Great Journey. Which he was listening to right now. With each news he heard, Telek growled and tossed another dart.

"Lies!" he bellowed. "Lies! Why must I keep enduring these lies? Why can't I find a way out of the Covenant? I feel more like a damned prisoner in here than an honorable warrior."

He sighed and grabbed his tin and swallowed his daily medicine down his throat. He was so fed up with the Covenant now and the lies that it spouted that he rarely even wore his uniform anymore. He was dressed in his gray bedclothes and red bathrobe, growling and spitting, throwing another dart at the Prophet of Truth's nose. He was up on his ship while she remained suspended over a planet the humans labeled PX-067. It was a small colony of humans with an even smaller military to protect them. And it was an easy raid for Telek and his crew. He was ordered to do it, so he followed his orders. Like a good 'dog'. He glanced up just as a tone sounded, signaling that someone was outside his door.

"Come," he ordered. The door opened and a white and black armored Sangheili Spec-Ops commander came walking in. Her name was Shri 'Canthonee and she was Telek's best in operations. When Telek was just a Spec-Ops Commander himself, she was a part of his team and a diligent student under him. And when he rose to the status of Zealot Ship Master and then Fleet Master, Shri became the commander of his old team. Telek made sure that she would remain under him, working with him in every mission the _Shade of Darkness _went on. And it was she who brought back the text that told Telek the truth—the truth that the Great Journey was a lie. The Great Journey, a belief that the Covenant held that they would travel to this divine beyond and meet with their lords, was nothing more than a fool-hearty fairy tale. When Telek read the text and told his subordinates, the other Ship Masters under his command—Mitsu 'Kimamee, Cujo 'Mentatalee, Tulsa 'Duroshee, and Tulsa 'Yuromee, they were ready to stand by him in whatever decision he made about their future with the Covenant. They all wanted out. The truth that everything Telek believed in devastated him. It made him do insane things, made him take up the bottle, and it made him enraged at the Prophet Hierarchs. The last stunt he pulled was trying to stop the Covenant/Human war by delivering a latrine to the UNSC—with an Imperial Admiral inside. Of course, the charges were dismissed because of the audacity of the stunt itself. But it seemed that the great warrior Telek was reduced to being nothing more than a bully to the humans—for that was the mission he went on today.

"The attack went well," said Shri. "They were easily slaughtered."

"Something for the damned Council can choke on, no doubt," he growled. "Why, Shri? Why must we keep up this charade?"

"What do you want to do?" she asked.

"Well, for one thing, stop killing humans," Telek replied. "Where's the honor in bullying a bunch of beings with primitive technology? Why are we in this war? The humans have done nothing to us."

"It's because the Prophets stated they were evil," Shri sighed. "They don't seem evil, Excellency."

"No, they're not evil," he said. "A bit narrow-minded, probably. But not evil."

"Not the entire human species," she agreed.

"There is an old human saying that I've learned to trust," Telek began as he rose up from his desk. "As with anything, there's a few bad apples that ruin the whole bunch. There are bad humans and good humans, as well as bad Sangheili and good Sangheili. But to the humans, we are the evil monsters, not them. And who can blame them? We're the ones trying to make them extinct."

"We've destroyed so many of their homes," said Shri. "Then, perhaps I have something that will brighten your day, Telek."

Telek took another swig of his tin: "Nothing can brighten up my day."

"I have three human UNSC Marine prisoners," she said.

"Prisoners?" Telek asked. "We never capture prisoners when it comes to the humans."

"I spared these for you," Shri said. "You can glory yourself in their deaths."

"No," Telek cut her short. "They might have information we need. I'll keep them alive."

Shri nodded. She knew that he would find a 'reason' to spare their lives. She knew the real reason. Telek was tired of killing beings that proved more worthy to remain alive. But the Council would not stand for it, therefore he had to think of a reason to put on record of why he kept them alive in order to sate the Council and his superior, Supreme Commander Otto 'Gamamee.

"Very well, Excellency," Shri began. "I suppose you would like to interrogate them yourself."

Telek tossed another dart at Truth: "I wish to do that."

He looked down at himself and how he was dressed. Telek sighed and pressed a glowing holo-pad on the wall, opening a closet full of his uniform and Zealot armor.

"I suppose I better be decent when I interrogate them, Commander," Telek grinned sheepishly.

"That would be wise, Excellency," Shri said.

"Very good, Shri," he nodded. "You are dismissed. Return to your Spec-Ops teams and debrief them."

"Yes, Excellency," she bowed and exited.

Telek disrobed and dressed himself in his dark green, skin-tight, bodysuit uniform and gold armor. Zealots, like all other Sangheili warriors of the Covenant, had their own color coding. A minor Zealot or Field Master just wore gold armor and no other secondary or accent color. Minor Zealots were also Ship Masters. Telek was a Fleet Master, meaning he commanded more than one ship and had more than one Ship Masters beneath him. His armor was gold, like all Zealots, but his armor had an accent secondary color. The accent color of his armor was black. Above him was the Supreme Commander, who held command over many Fleet Masters. The Supreme Commander's gold armor had an accent color of copper. Then above the Supreme Commander was the Imperial Admiral, who wore silver armor with gold as the accent color. Like all Zealots, Telek's armor held a religious Forerunner symbol on the back. Only officers had this symbol. All other 'enlisted' Sangheili, like the Minor and Major Domo did not. Telek mulled over many times in his head to scratch out that mark that was on the back of his armor, but doing so meant execution. He began to believe that death was better than the chain that bounded him to the Covenant.

Telek 'Herosee was a very tall Sangheili. While most Sangheili warriors stood around 8-foot 6 inches, he averaged out to about 9-foot 7 inches. Though there were Sangheili that grew taller than him. The tallest was around 10-foot 3 inches. The humans of course were much shorter, more like the size of Unggoy, the squat masked, blue-skinned, dim-witted creatures that became rather attached to the Sangheili. Unggoy hero-worshipped the Sangheili for some strange reason. But they were cowards in battle, most of the time.

The humans that Telek had fought were different. They were not so cowardly and they were certainly not dim-witted. And they also died with honor. So, why did the Covenant hate them? These, 5-6 feet tall, hairless creatures were incredible fighters in battle, though their physical strength was weak compared to a Sangheili. But they made up for that in strategy. Unggoy lacked strategy.

Telek zipped up his bodysuit and adjusted his gold and black, tri-pointed helm. He placed his mandible armor on his mouth, which gave him a fearsome look. He took in a breath and walked out of his office.

Corporal Chuck Quincy stared with a scowl on his face at the steel armored Elite that paced up and down the brig. The alien's plasma sword was ignited, and its hoofed feet softly walked up and down, keeping its vigil on the prisoners. Beside the door were two Grunts, sleeping. This was pretty much the first time Chuck had seen an Elite before. The alien had a humanoid torso with very wide shoulders and lengthy, lithe, but muscular arms. The legs of this alien were different than a human's legs. The creature's legs resembled a satyr's legs, complete with cloven hooves. And because of the way the legs were built, with the creature walking on its toes with its ankles in the air like hooved animals would, meant that the Elite could run faster and jump higher than humans. Their gloved hands had a pair of fingers and a pair of thumbs on each hand, which strengthened their grip. The weirdest thing about this alien was its mouth. It had two pairs of mandibles that opened wide to reveal rows of serrated, sharp teeth inside. Elites were predators. No doubt, Chuck thought, that they had a set of claws too in those gloves too.

In the other cell beside Chuck was his superior officer, Sergeant Eliot Manning and beside him was Private Ken Toyama. Chuck was the only one awake, watching the Elite pace, while the other two were sleeping. He was afraid. He heard what the Covenant often did to prisoners and he heard it was not pretty. The last thing, Chuck wanted was to die in some Covenant ship's cell. It was the waiting that killed him the most though. He could not stand waiting, not knowing what these Covenant bastards wanted to do with him, or what plans they had to put an end to his life. Chuck was barely a Marine, drafted into the service and taken away from his home, his girlfriend, and his family on Regis 9. He was taken to the outskirts of the United Nations outer colony planet PX-067, a planet barely even colonized to even receive a proper name.

These Covenant monsters were angry at the humans for something. What, he did not know. He heard what the Covenant did to Harvest, and every other outer planet the humans settled on. The term was glassing. The Covenant, when they found a human settled world, would come in great numbers of ships and bombard the planet with enormous amounts of plasma, turning the surface into molten rock and fire, destroying all life on it. The atmosphere would heat up so hot that it would just disintegrate instantly, and then after a few days, the planet would cool—looking like volcanic glass—and completely barren—devoid of life. He did not want that to happen to PX-067, nor any other human planet. The Covenant, from all he knew, wanted nothing more than to exterminate the humans.

The door opened and another Elite walked in. This Elite was dressed in gold armor with black accents and trimming. In the muted blue and violet light, his bodysuit looked black as well, but Chuck could tell it was a dark green. The black armored Elite wore a black bodysuit to match its armor.

"Sarge," Chuck whispered. "Sarge. Wake up."

"What?" Eliot asked.

This Elite dressed in gold was much taller and stouter than the black clad Elite. From what Eliot recalled from the files, this Elite was called a Zealot. Zealots were like generals and admirals of the Covenant forces. And they were also the captains of the Covenant ships. He could hear the guttural sounding barks and such coming from the two Elites as they exchanged words in their native tongue. Then the black armored Elite click its heels and made a gesture that looked like some sort of salute to the gold Zealot. The steel-armored Elite barked at the two Grunts, startling them awake and led them outside the brig. Then, the Zealot turned back to the three prisoners and lifted his head to them.

"Toyama," whispered Eliot. "Wake up."

"What happened?" Ken asked. "Who's he?"

"I think he's the captain of this vessel," said Eliot.

"Now, humans," the Elite began, speaking to them in English. Chuck was shocked. He never heard anyone say that Elites could speak English. The Elite's voice sounded masculine, which indicated he was male. The Elite's voice was a soft tenor, but also boarder line baritone. There was command in that voice. It was obvious, this alien was the captain of this ship. The Elite moved towards the holo-panel that operated the shielding on the cells. "Now, humans, if you attack me, I will kill you. I am letting you out for a moment."

"Letting us out?" Chuck asked. "What are you gonna do to us?"

"I'll do nothing to you if you don't do anything to me," the Zealot said. "Sound fair?"

"Alright," Eliot nodded. "That sounds fair."

"Good," there was a smile in the Elite's tone. He pressed his gloved finger on a blue glowing, holographic button and the shields that kept the prisoners in disappeared. The three Marines slowly and cautiously stepped out of their cells. The big Elite came walking slowly towards them. He stopped a few paces away, not wanting to get close to them so he would not appear to be attacking them. Eliot eyed the door and bit his lips in anxiousness. He wanted to bolt his men and himself out that door, but deep in his mind, he knew it would be a fruitless scheme. He was on a ship filled with Covenant soldiers that could very well kill him and his men in an instant.

"I know what you're thinking," the Elite said. "And I wouldn't try it. There's only three of you."

"I know," Eliot said. "But it did cross my mind."

The Elite settled himself down onto the floor and motioned for the humans to step forwards closer to him.

"I'm sure you have a name for yourselves," he said. "What are your names and your ranks?"

No Covenant has ever asked for a human's name before. This came quite a shock to Chuck. Eliot figured that this was some sort of game this Elite was playing. Ken was just frozen out of his mind.

"Eliot Manning, Sergeant, serial number 156J-475, United Nations Space Command Marine," Eliot said.

"Charles Quincy, Corporal, serial number 197J-138, United Nations Space Command Marine," said Chuck.

"Kenichi Toyama, Private, serial number 219J-461, United Nations Space Command Marine," said Ken.

The Elite just nodded: "I am Telek 'Herosee, Fleet Master of the _Particular Justice_ and Ship Master of the _Shade of Darkness_."

"The _Shade of Darkness?_" Eliot asked.

"That is the name of the ship you are on," Telek replied. "I am one of nine Fleet Masters of the _Particular Justice_ and I command more than one ship. This is the flag ship of the small fleet that I command when we are not a part of the _Particular Justice_. Just a fleet of 15 ships. 5 are which who are loyal to me, the other 10 I'm not so sure."

"What the hell do you want with us?" Eliot asked.

"If it's information you want, we don't have any," said Chuck.

"Then, there is nothing I want from you," Telek replied. "I already had a feeling you wouldn't have anything of value."

"Then, why the hell are we here?" Eliot asked.

"You should ask my Special Operations Commander," Telek shrugged. "She brought you here."

"That was a woman?" Ken asked.

"You're not the only species that has females in the military," Telek said.

"Still, I'd like to know why we're being held prisoner," said Eliot. "Usually, you Covies just kill us and don't take prisoners."

"Yeah, and what the hell did we do to you anyways?" Chuck asked.

"Corporal…" Eliot sighed.

"What?" Chuck asked. "I wanna know. Why the fuck are you aliens so damned determined to destroy us? What did we ever do to you?"

"For one thing, you're on my ship," Telek began. "Therefore you are the aliens, not me. And the other—I have no _damned_ idea why we want to eliminate your species."

His tone shocked Chuck. It was just too sincere. Though one look into the Elite's blue eyes and he could tell there was some truth in his words.

"If you want that question answered," Telek continued. "Perhaps I should take you to High Charity and you can ask the Prophet of Truth your question. He's the one who decided your species fate. But if you want my opinion in this, I think it's a waste of time and resources trying to exterminate a species that has never wronged us in the first place. Like you, I just follow the orders I am given. I'll sit, rollover, beg, and play dead by the orders of the High Council whom Truth presides over. That's it. And it really is a waste of plasma glassing one of your planets just because Truth seems to have some sort of pet peeve about your species. I don't know, maybe he was human in a previous life and some human pantsed him one too many times and that's why he feels the need to have us kill you."

Telek's head turned towards Ken, who was covering his mouth to keep from snickering.

"This Prophet of Truth has some sort of grudge against us?" Eliot asked.

"Yeah, and there you have it," Telek replied. "That's all I know."

"So, your commander spared us because…" Ken began. "She likes us?"

"She spared you probably because she knows that I have a grudging peeve about killing humans," said Telek. "There is no honor in killing people who have done nothing to us. Apparently, I and a few of those who follow me all have some sort of conscience. The others—they like picking on the weak creature and playing the bully. It's a turn-on for them. Now, you will remain in your cells until I decide what is to be done about you. But I can assure you that killing you three will not be the decision."

"Where are you gonna take us?" Eliot asked.

"That is what I'm going to decide on," he replied. "Until then, these cells are your homes. You will be brought food and water and as you have seen latrines are provided. The pink button flushes. Your attitudes and conduct will determine how smooth your stay will be with me. Make trouble and you shall receive it. I punish those who do deserve it. You are—in a way guests on my ship. Please mind your manners. I do apologize but the Sangheili guard that is here does not speak English. So, don't try to communicate with him."

"The—what?" Ken asked.

"Apologies," Telek said. "Sangheili is the correct term for my species. You call us Elites. Elite is a word in your language meaning extremely skilled. While I am elite in what I do—that's not what my species is called. I am a Sangheili."

"Alright…" Eliot said. "I'm afraid we couldn't stop and ask you bastards what you're actually called because you guys were too busy trying to gun us down."

"I understand," Telek said. "Return to your cells. I'll come back tomorrow and we'll have another little chat."

He got up off the floor and went back to the holo-panel. As soon as the three Marines were back in their individual cells, Telek reactivated the shielding.

"You plan on keeping these humans on board?" Tekn asked.

"I have my reasons, Tekn," Telek said.

"I know, Excellency," he replied. "But what are you gonna do with them? If they have no other use, perhaps we should just let them go—since you won't kill them. There's no point in keeping prisoners that have nothing to offer us."

"Let them go to where and what purpose?" Telek asked. "Just letting them go isn't as simple as that. Where do you propose to drop them off? Some abandoned planet and hope that their friends will pick them up?"

"We can't take them to High Charity," Tekn said. "They'll be killed, perhaps in some sort of entertainment arena. And they cannot stay here—Otto will find out. You could be charged with treason for disobeying an order. Even if we did get some sort of information out of them, the order is to kill them afterwards."

"And it will stop there," he said as he glanced back at the control holo-panel of his ship. The bridge of the _Shade of Darkness _was a vast vault inside the ship. Glowing lights like circuitry ran up the pillars around the walls. Telek and Tekn stood on a large, circular platform at the center of the room and around them in a semi-circle were the holographic controls of the ship. In front were four parallelogram-like holo-screens suspended over a wall that showed various maps of the system that they were in as well as images in front, back and sides of the ship. The room was lit up with ambient blue and violet lighting. It would be considered dark to a human's eyes, but to the Sangheili, it was perfect. The _Shade _like all Covenant ships, were low staffed, unlike human ships, they did not need many personnel to maintain them. Tekn acted as second in command and secondary Ship Master to Telek, especially when Telek was not on board. Control of the ship was split up into shifts between the two. Tekn waited for Telek to finish informing him of what he was going to do with the humans before he took his leave and returned to his quarters to rest. Tekn was dressed in black armor with gold as his accent colors, giving him a distinct rank of Ship Assistant to Telek's Ship Master. He was not a Zealot, but his rank was equal to, if not slightly above Ultra. Large capital ships like the _Shade _required a secondary assistant to the Ship Master to operate her accurately. When Telek was off duty, sleeping, taking a break, or eating, Tekn was Ship Master.

Telek pressed a button and the image of his prisoners appeared on the screen in front.

"Tekn, this is not to go on record," Telek began. "We can't go dropping them off to some planet and hope that a human ship will come by and pick them up. It would be like killing them, only slowly. They'll run out of food, or who knows what could hunt them down and kill them."

"What do you suggest we do, Excellency?" Tekn asked.

"Give them back to the UNSC," Telek nodded.

"Huh?" Tekn's gray eyes widened. "You mean seek out a human ship and say: 'Hey, we have some prisoners we wish to return to you.' And hope that they won't try to attack us."

"I'll need all five of my ships to do this," Telek said. "But I believe there is a term they use when two enemies meet up in a peaceful manner and exchange information before leaving—peacefully. If we use this term, they know that we will not attack them and so they would do the honorable thing and also not attack us. We hand over the prisoners and leave. And no word to Otto about this. He'll skin me."

"He'll do worse then that," Tekn said. "People are talking. What we found—what we're trying to spread to the Covenant—they are thinking of hanging you for heresy. A stunt like this—if Otto finds out—will cost you dearly."

"Then, I'll take the blame," Telek said. "No point in all of us going down. I won't have it. I'll take the sacrifice for all of us. If it comes to that, you say that you were just following my orders." He pressed another button and called his four trustworthy Ship Masters. "Cujo, Mitsu, Tulsa, and Tulsa."

"We're here, Telek," said Cujo.

"I heard you have prisoners, Excellency," said Tulsa 'Duroshee.

"How's our little brother doing on your ship, Excellency?" Tulsa 'Yuromee asked. "You think he could become a good Spec Ops Warrior soon?"

"Tulsa 'Tolumee," Telek began. "Is still a bit wet behind the ear holes. He's just a Minor after all. But he is learning well in air assault strategy. I think he wants to become a pilot instead of a Spec Ops. Warrior. And most pilots are Majors. He'll bring honor to the maroon armor."

Tulsa 'Yuromee, the Ship Maser of the _Celestial Guard_, a Covenant cloak-enabled light cruiser, and the middle brother of the three, looked down at his feet in thought. He hoped that his younger brother would become a Spec Ops Warrior like he and Telek 'Herosee once were. Very few times did Spec Ops become Ship Masters, but it seemed appropriate for cloak-enabled ships. Cloaking of ships was a rather new technology only been tested within the last twenty years. The Covenant was not in much of a hurry to mass produce them since the war had started. It seemed the eradication of the humans was its primary concern, instead of replacing obsolete technology and ships with better ones. Almost every Ship Master of each of the 10 cloak-enable ships were once either Stealth Warriors, or previous Spec Ops Warriors and Commanders. Tulsa 'Duroshee was the eldest of the Brothers Tulsa, and Ship Master of the _Righteous Fury, _also a cloak-enabled battle cruiser. Mitsu 'Kimamee was the Ship Master of the cloak-enabled destroyer class ship called the _Holy Justice_. He was the shortest of the five Ship Masters who knew about the truth, and he was also the wiry one of the five as well. And then there was Cujo 'Mentatalee, who was roughly the same age as Telek and almost the same size as well. Cujo was Telek's best friend, old frat-brother and the only one of the group who didn't refer to Telek as 'Excellency' the Covenant equivalent to 'sir'. He was the Ship Master of the _Divine Journey_, a cloak-enabled super cruiser that can pack nearly the same punch as Telek's on assault carrier. Not only that, the ship could snipe other ships from long range—usually before the other ship could pick Cujo up on its sensors. Couple that with the cloaking technology and the _Divine Journey_ was a deadly ship to mess with. Cujo was always considered as Telek's right hand wingman. Even his ship took the right flank when the five traveled in formation—which they were in right now. The formation looked like something off of the number 5 side on a Craps die—the four smaller ships around the Covenant assault carrier. Ten starfighter Seraphs guarded the top and bottom of the formation. The Seraphs also had slip-space capabilities, though it was short-ranged compared to the five ships. When Telek needed to make a long jump in formation, the Seraphs would return to their ships and dock and the five ships would jump. Unfortunately, the Seraphs could not cloak, but sometimes they were used as decoys to draw the enemy's attention while the five cloaked ships would make their attacks from behind. It was one of Telek's ingenious plans, and it worked most of the time. There had been a few times where someone saw through the ploy and were able to notice the shimmer of stars as one of the cloaked ships went by—but that took a lot of concentration. Not many human ships survived to report back about the Covenant's cloak technology.

"Yes," said Telek. "I have prisoners. Here is the plan. We are going to seek out any human ship—preferably a single ship. No fleets. What we'll do is build a formation around this ship and keep it from escaping while I try to negotiate with them. I'm going to give up these prisoners."

"You know the High Council won't like it," Cujo said.

"Since when did you care about what the High Council thinks, Cujo?" Mitsu asked.

"I don't," Cujo said. "I'm just pointing it out so that we can go ahead and do it. I like it when we piss those bastards off."

Telek chuckled: "Agreed. Another rod up Truth's ass. I've got a dart board now with Truth's picture on it so I can throw darts at it."

"I want one!" Tulsa 'Duroshee cried. "I'll have Regret's picture though."

"I'll take Mercy," said Cujo.

"I suppose the usual plan of just letting them pass if we see a human ship isn't the plan this time," said Tulsa 'Yuromee.

Normally, if the five spotted a human ship in their sensors, they would cloak and let the human ship go by. Telek never attacked a human ship unless ordered to do so, unlike most Covenant ships. Most Covenant ships would attack a human ship if they spotted one, but they did not have the luxury of the cloak—nor Telek's mentality.

"Yup, we go find a ship," Telek nodded.

"Where?" Mitsu asked.

"Well, the last raid that picked up these three Marines also had some human star charts," Telek replied. "I know where to find one of their worlds that no doubt probably has a ship or two lurking by. We won't go near the world, we'll just hang on the out skirts of the system and start our search there. Cloaked of course. I don't want them noticing us until I'm ready to make contact."

"And what will you say to the humans to make them not attack us?" Tulsa 'Yuromee asked.

"I'm sure they have some sort of term that we could use that will tell them we only wanna talk business, not fight," Telek said. "I've picked up a very old book on naval and nautical terms used on their home world. I'm sure it'll give me something. Tekn, will you get that book for me? I'll be studying it while I'm in the bridge."

"So lucky the ship can practically drive itself," Tekn sighed as he left the bridge.

"Something tells me you're gonna curl up on the floor in your usual bathrobe and start reading," Cujo chuckled.

Telek chuckled: "Tekn, go get my pillow too!"

"Yes, Excellency!" called Tekn's voice.

"I like curling," he said. "The human world of my choice is about a week's jump from here. Order in all the Seraphs and we'll start jumping when I give you the coordinates."

"We're all fueled up and ready for the jump, Excellency," said Mitsu.

"I'll tell you when to jump when the Seraphs are in," said Telek. He pressed another button. "Squadron leaders, return to dock to your respected ships, we're about to make a jump."

"Yes, Excellency," said one of the voices of the squadron leaders.

"This will probably be the best thing we've done since we raided that planet," said Mitsu.

"I'll drink to that," Telek nodded, taking out his tin.

"Telek," Cujo sighed. "I swear, you need help."

"Not while I'm drinking, Cujo," he sneered.

"Human, eat," the Grunt huffed as he tried to place the food nipple down Chuck's throat.

"No!" Chuck cried. "Get that thing the hell away from me! Your food is disgusting!"

Eliot shook his head: "Corporal! Don't make anymore trouble! We're lucky that Ship Master's being so hospitable."

"Yeah, don't get us into more trouble than we're already in," said Ken. "Just eat the stuff."

"It's crap!" Chuck cried.

"Human, food good," said the Grunt. "Eat."

"Get the fuck away from me!" Chuck snapped, batting the food nipple away from the squat creature. The Grunt screeched in fear and darted away, running behind the steel-armored Elite with the sword. The Elite bellowed and charged for Chuck, brandishing his blue, plasma sword at the Marine. Chuck screamed, sliding himself on the floor towards the corner of his sell and curling up into a tiny, shivering ball. Just as the Elite was about to cut into him, another hand came out and grabbed the Elite. The armored alien was thrown against the fall wall, its helm flying off its head as it impacted the side. Chuck, shaking in terror, glanced up to see the Ship Master Telek, sword ignited, and pointing it directly at the throat of the Elite who tried to attack the Marine.

"Roirraw, dnatsrednu, kcolria eht tuo uoy worht l'lahsi dna mih l'lik?" Telek growled at the Elite.

The Elite dipped his head in acknowledgement and rose from the floor as Telek put away his sword. Then, he took his helmet and shoed the Grunts out of the brig. Telek turned back to his prisoners and shook his helmed head.

"So damned hard to find good help these days," he sighed. "Now, what the hell initiated this little fight anyways?"

"I'm sorry, Ship Master," Eliot began. "Chuck here doesn't understand the good hospitality you're giving us."

"That Grunt was trying to feed me poison or something!" Chuck cried, still shivering from the attack.

Telek glanced over, seeing the food nipple on the floor, the tube dribbling out its nutrient paste. He picked it up and showed it to Chuck.

"You mean this?" he asked. "This is a food nipple. It's filled with protein and carbohydrates, the energy that you need to sustain yourself. Granted it doesn't taste all that great, but it's better than nothing."

"It's crap!" Chuck cried again, hiding his head down between his knees, fearing that Telek might try to charge at him like that Elite did for insulting the food.

"I'm sorry," Telek said, being as cool and calm as he could be, though his voice did hold some cynicism. "But unfortunately we don't have pretzels and peanuts on this flight. Perhaps I can talk to the flight attendant and she can whip up some stale crackers for you."

Chuck just shook his head. Telek could hear the sound of pouting coming from the corporal and he arched an eyebrow.

"Stow the sniveling, Quincy!" Eliot barked. "You're a Marine. You're gonna eat this stuff, or you can starve. It's your choice."

"Yeah," said Ken. "It tastes like tofu without any flavoring. Just eat it."

"I fucking hate tofu!" Chuck cried. "I'm sick of this, shit, man! I'm sick of it! I want out! I can't stand being cramped up in here. It sucks!"

Eliot growled and got up, walking out of his cell and into Chuck's. Telek just stood and watched as the sergeant grabbed the Marine by the collar and then punched him in the face.

"I told you to shove it, Marine!" Eliot bellowed again. "That was an order, not a suggestion."

He glanced back at Telek and sighed.

"Sorry," he said. "Sometimes it's necessary."

Telek chuckled deeply: "You just saw me throw one of my men across the brig for attacking yours. Believe me, I know. I do have some news for the three of you. I've made my decision on what to do with you."

"And what's that?" Eliot asked.

"I'm letting you go," he replied.

"You are?" Ken asked, a smile appearing on his face. "You mean it?"

"To where?" Eliot asked.

"To the UNSC," Telek replied. "Where you belong."

"I don't mean to be insulting," Eliot replied. "But I don't think they'll stop for a moment to talk with you about handing us over. One sight of your ship and they'll jump."

"Oh, I know very well about the Cole Protocol," Telek said. He began to pace up and down in front of the three Marines. "Article One: To safeguard the Inner Colonies of Earth, all UNSC vessels or stations must not be captured with intact navigation databases that may lead Covenant forces to human civilian population centers. If Covenant vessels are detected, the ship must purge databases, erase back-up drivers and networks, retreat by entering slip-space with randomized vectors that do not lead the Covenant to the Inner Planets, Earth, or other civilian populated stations. And in case of capture of Covenant forces, all UNSC ships must self-destruct."

"How do you know…" Eliot breathed.

"As I've stated I am _elite_ in what I do," Telek replied. "Which includes espionage—stealing enemy information."

"I bet that means you know where Earth is, don't you?" Eliot said, his fists balling up with white knuckles showing. His jaw began to set in place.

"No," Telek replied. "I don't. And I'm not interested in finding it. There's something you need to know about me, Sergeant. What I am about to do would mean treason for me. We are about to embark on a week long jump to one of your colony systems and we are going to be cloaked the entire time to stay off their radar until I wish to make our presence known to one of the ships in the area. By taking this trip, this means that from this day forth, this ship, and the other four ships that are traveling with it—are traitors to the Covenant. I am no longer a warrior in the Covenant regime. I know about the Cole Protocol, but I have never shared it with my superiors. They don't know."

"So, you're a defector?" Eliot asked.

"He's a Covie Benedict Arnold!" Ken laughed.

Telek nodded and took out a photograph of an alien creature with a long neck, red robes and a golden headdress.

"I want you boys to take a good look at this picture," he said. "This is the Prophet of Truth. He is your enemy. Not me. He's also my enemy. And as the saying goes, the enemy of my enemy is my friend. You are the enemy of Truth, and I hate Truth. Therefore, you are my friend."

"Why do you wanna betray your own kind?" Ken asked.

"Well, for one, I hate Truth," Telek replied. "A long time ago, my species and the species known as the Prophets were at war with each other. We called a truce after that and formed the Covenant. All other species that have joined are more or less slave species to us. But a new species has joined known as the Jiralhanae. These creatures are big, brutish monsters. Smelly and hairy. They don't even bathe. It's disgusting. They have begun to win the favor of the Prophets in the short time that they've been here which is upsetting the Sangheili High Council. But for now we're turning a blind eye to it. I really don't like them and I want them out of the Covenant and I think the Prophets' reason for bringing them in is to replace the Sangheili with these ugly monsters. I don't want to be turned into a slave—but I think its more than that. The Prophets might try to do to us what they are doing to your—exterminate us. They want the reinitiate that ancient war we fought with them long ago."

"So, you want out because of these new guys," said Chuck, who picked up his head off the floor and rubbed the place where he had been hit.

"It's a little bit more than that," Telek said. "If I may ask, what religion are the three of you?"

"I'm—a devout Protestant Christian," Eliot replied.

"Buddhist," said Ken.

"My—mom's Jewish," said Chuck. "But my dad was a Unitarian, who converted to Judaism. I'm kinda undecided."

"Well, how would you feel like if you went on a mission for your religion to uncover artifacts about your religion and then found out that these artifacts told you that your religion was a lie?" Telek asked. "And that in actuality what you hoped to achieve in your religion will ultimately destroy the universe?"

"Uh…" Eliot blinked.

"Uh…" Ken said. "I don't know. I'd—probably be really pissed."

"Probably try to find out a way to stop it from happening," said Chuck.

"A few years ago, I went on such a mission to find artifacts for the Covenant religion," Telek said. "At the order of the Prophet Hierarchs. I found them and then found out that the very religion I believed in was a fat lie. Not only that—but if they do in fact try to find these so-called Sacred Rings and go on this Great Journey, they'll destroy the universe. Meaning you, me, Covenant, Human, don't matter. We're all dead if the Prophets do what they plan to do."

"What are the…Sacred Rings?" Eliot asked.

"They are these—big machines," Telek replied. "That the Covenant believe will open some sort of gateway to some shining heaven and obliterate any infidel who aren't worthy. But, in truth, these machines will just kill everyone, whether they believe in the religion of the Covenant or not. All of my life, I've been told this damned lie. It sickens me. Every time I think about it, I wanna just—break something. From the moment this war started, I started to have this bad taste in my mouth about the Covenant, and then I discovered this and now I just want to vomit."

"Wow," Chuck said. "And—and that's why you wanna help us?"

"If things turn bad for me, I need a place to run," said Telek. "My crew too, and my ships. And—I want to set things right. I want my honor back. Maybe even up the odds of this war—providing this ONI of yours the information it needs to save what worlds you have left."

"How do we know you won't trick us and turn against the ship you're gonna contact?" Eliot asked.

"I guess you'll just have to find out," Telek replied. He turned back to the corporal and motioned towards the food nipple. "Eat your food. You'll need the strength. But just think, once you're back, you can have all the hotdogs and nachos you can stuff in your mouth."

"Did the Covenant build these Sacred Rings?" Ken asked.

"No," the Elite said. "They didn't. The Rings have been around for thousands of years—prior to the forming of the Covenant. But so far that's all I know. Rest up."

He was lying, of course. He knew more than that. But he did not want the humans to go looking for these rings. He knew what the rings did, and he knew what they held. Telek got up off the floor and walked out of the brig, closing and locking the door behind him. In came the black-armored Elite and the two Grunts. The Elite motioned for the three Marines to go back into their cells as he reactivated the shielding.

_**0740 Hours, July 14 2546, (Military Calendar)\Yale System**_

The UNSC-SS _Marathon-_class cruiser _Memphis _slowly roamed the darkened void outside the loan colony system of Yale. One had to stay away from Yale, especially where Harvard was concerned. The captain of the _Memphis _could never understand how two systems were named Harvard and Yale. He figured someone from Berkley named them and probably hoped those two would be the next on the Covenant's list to be glassed. A sick joke, if he ever heard one. He was Captain Donald Reynolds. So far, things were quiet in the system. There were a few whispers here and there, but mostly that was from the chatter coming from Yale. The frats, mostly. Don rolled his eyes and sat back in his chair. On board his ship was an AI named Cornelius.

His tactical, Ensign Graham Ingles, shifted restlessly in his seat, his eyes going over a _Playboy_ magazine concealed under the consol. He thought that he would be seeing some action when he signed up to be on a ship. Any action would due for him. Unfortunately, the only action he saw was the action going on in the glossy papers—two beautiful, topless women having a water and soap fight over a civilian-styled Warthog. That brought a smile to his face. A chime sounded on his consol and his eyes glanced up from the dirty magazine. He glanced over and saw that a light was flashing.

"Ensign," began Don. "What is it?"

"Someone's hailing us, Skipper," said Graham. "But there's not a ship in sight. The sensors aren't picking up anything."

Cornelius appeared on a holographic projector near the Captain and he glanced down at the blue image.

"I'm picking up strange whispers, Captain," he said. "From all around us. But like his said, I'm not picking up any ships in the area."

Then, a voice came through the speakers.

"Hello?" began the voice. It sounded male. "Hello? Anyone there?"

Don's eyes glanced around the ceiling for a moment as his heart began to skip around inside his chest. The rest of the bridge crew were also glancing around.

"Hello?" the voice continued. "Is this a vacant ship? What? Do you guys just leave a ship out in the middle of nowhere like a fake speed trap and hope people are obeying the limit?"

"Uh…" Don began. "We hear you. Who are you and where are you?"

"Well, I'm in front of you," the voice replied. "But I have others who are around you and above you."

Graham glanced down for a moment and saw something else flicker on his consol and a message appeared on his screen. Cornelius twitched for a moment when he felt something invade his systems, disabling a command on the ship—a command pertaining to the self-destruct sequence.

"Captain," he began. "You're not going to believe this, but who ever this guy is—just disable our self-destruct."

"What?" Don asked.

"Now, now, now, now," the voice echoed through the speakers of the ship. "I'll not have any Cole Protocol initiation while we are in the midst of discussing business. I assure you, I have no interest in the location of Earth. Besides, I already have a general idea where it is thanks to the transmissions of your ancestors. If I wanted to, I could just easily follow that and eliminate the sections one by one until Earth was left."

"Captain, I think this guy's Covenant," Graham said.

After that statement, the five ships faded from invisibility. And there they were, all around the _Memphis_. He could see the ship that the voice was coming from. She was an enormous Covenant capital ship, an assault carrier, nearly five times as large as his own ship.

"Well, you're only half right," said the voice.

"My God…" Don breathed. "They just…my God…"

"I didn't even see them," said Cornelius. "They weren't on our sensors. There's three large Covenant ships circling us while two slightly smaller cruisers are on the top and the bottom. They've got us boxed in! If I try to fire any weapons, the debris will destroy us too."

"But you were planning on doing that anyways, right?" the voice asked. "Sacrifice your life and the lives of your crew just to save billions of humans on other worlds. A noble gesture, I might add. But not today. Perhaps tomorrow you'll have that opportunity to go down in history as well as your ship. As I've stated I have no interest in Earth."

"Who are you?" Don demanded, rising from his chair. The face of a Zealot Elite appeared on the wide holo-screen in front of his bridge.

"Hi there!" the Elite said with a smile on his mandibles. His voice was the friendliest thing Don had ever heard coming from an Elite. "My name is Telek 'Herosee, and I am the Ship Master of the _Shade of Darkness_, a cloak-enabled assault cruiser of the Covenant."

"Okay, if you have no interest in Earth…what do you want?" Don asked.

"Well, for one, your name," said Telek.

"Donald Reynolds," he replied. "Captain of the _Memphis_."

"Memphis…" Telek began. "Ah…like in Egypt or Tennessee? Nice name. I here the one in Tennessee is nice this time of year. I've always wanted to visit Graceland. See the Peabody Hotel and watch the ducks run across the floor to their little fountain. Didn't think that someone like me would know about that, eh?"

Don was just speechless. He had been one of the many people who had not seen an Elite before, or even had been near a Covenant ship. He was told to avoid them as best as possible, per the instructions of the Cole Protocol.

"What is it that you want?" Don asked.

"Yes," Telek nodded. "One moment, I have to look it up. Just sit tight okay—and no purging or anything like that. If you do that, I'll just blow you up and find the next ship to do business with. I'm joking! Hah! Just stay right there. Don't move. Tekn, where the hell is that book?"

"Getting it, Excellency!" the one called Tekn said. "Here it is."

The Elite named Tekn handed Telek a rather old, canvas bound, red book with gold letters that were faded on the front. As Telek began to flip through the pages, dust rose up from the book, which caused the Elite to cough and sneeze.

"Ah, here we are," Telek said as he blew across the pages, dispersing a plume of dust. "Let's see…purée, par-fey, parking…partly…uh—porter, no…too far. Ah! Here it is. Parley. Yes. Parley."

"Par—what?" Don asked.

"Parley," Telek said with a meaningful grin on his face. "Parley."

In the background, Don could see Tekn waving a rainbow flag behind him. Telek glanced back for a moment and shook his head.

"No, you idiot, that means we're gay!" he corrected.

"Oh," Tekn said. "What about this one?"

He then began waving a flag with a black dot in the center.

"No!" Telek cried. "What are you trying to do, scare him? That means we're quarantined for diseases."

"What about this?" Tekn asked, raising a black flag with skull and crossbones.

"No, that means were pirates," Telek said. "Wait—that could be useful for later. Keep that one. Get out the white flag."

"White flag," said Tekn. He brought out the white flag and waved it frantically.

"There we go," Telek nodded. "Parley—white flag."

"Uh—one moment," said Don, pressing a mute button. "Is he surrendering?"

"Three ships circling us, and two ships above and blow us…" began Cornelius. "I don't think that's a surrender."

"What does 'parley' mean?" Don asked.

"It's in my databanks as a nautical term used during the 17th century, sparingly used today I believe," the AI replied. "One moment. I'll look it up."

"Captain," Telek began. "Captain, aren't we going to do anything? I've said parley."

"One moment, please," said Don. "You're using a term we haven't used in a very long time."

"Protocol, Captain," Telek said.

"We're looking it up," Don said. "Just one moment."

Cornelius reappeared with his own book in hand and blue the dust across the pages.

"Parley…" he said. "To accord terms between two enemies. Peace talk. Generally, it means he wants to bargain with us."

"B—bargain?" Don asked, running a hand down his face. "Oy vey…"

Graham mouthed: "Bargain…" to the lieutenant sitting beside him.

"You want to bargain with us?" Don asked.

"Yes," Telek nodded. "Indeed I do."

"Why the hell didn't you just say so?"

"I did," Telek said. "I wish to parley with you about these POWs I have."

"Say what?" Don asked, standing back up.

"Prisoners of War, Captain," said Telek.

"I know what POW means," Don snapped.

"No need to bite my head off," Telek said. "I'm trying to negotiate peacefully here."

"I know—I know," he said. "You have prisoners you wish to hand over?"

"Yes," said the Ship Master. "Three Marines, to be exact. Step forward, gentlemen."

The three Marines stepped closer to the screen and Don could now see them. They looked healthy and well.

"Sir, they might have been tampered with," Cornelius whispered.

"How do we know these Marines aren't carrying bombs or something inside of them?" Don asked.

"Well, you can't be sure of that, can you?" Telek asked. "I can give you my word, but I doubt you'll trust it. You may examine them when they are transferred to your ship. They'll be in your hands and out of mine. That's all that matters. I can't keep them here. For one, they hate the food being served on board, and well—if my superiors found out they'll kill them."

"So what?" Don asked. "You Covies don't take prisoners anyways, why should you care?"

"As I've stated, you're only half right about me being Covenant," said Telek. "I am risking a lot handing these POWs over to you—my life for one and the lives of my crew and the five ships that are here. Now, I don't want to bore you with the details, so, let's just get on with the negotiations. After the parley has been fulfilled, we'll leave you be, return to slip-space and to whence we came. You will not see us again."

"Alright," Don sighed. "Let's get on with the negotiations. What is it do you want in return for the prisoners?"

Telek brought out a piece of paper and began reading off his list of demands.

"My first demand is for you to bring me an Olympic-sized pool filled with either vodka or Jack Daniels," he said. "Either one will be fine. This is to be delivered to me by John Wayne."

"Huh?" Don asked. He glanced around at the other crewmembers who just shrugged and shook their heads.

"My next demand is for your chef to make me and my crew some 'special brownies'," Telek continued. "These brownies must be the size of a Spirit drop-ship."

"Brownies?" Graham asked.

"What are 'special brownies'?" Cornelius whispered.

In the background, they could hear the three Marines start to snicker.

"Brownies with marijuana baked into them," Don whispered back.

"My next demand is for the 'special brownies' to be delivered to my ship by Stephen Hyde," he continued. "Next, we demand the Immortal Jonny Carson's return to the Throne of Prominence and the unholy usurper Jay Leno executed and his head brought to the Covenant, impaled on a pike. For that is the reason why we started this war in the first place."

"Actually, I always thought it was over latrines," chuckled Tekn.

"No, I thought it was over latrines," said Telek. "When I was sleep-deprived that one time. No, it's over Jay Leno and Jonny Carson."

"Right, all hail the great and powerful Jonny Carson!" Tekn bowed.

"Can I please get on with this?" Telek asked. "Next is Brittany Spears!"

"You want us to bring you Brittany Spears?" Don asked.

"No!" Telek bellowed. "We want her knocked up one more time! Preferably with a plasma sword. I shall donate my sword for the job."

He raised up the glowing blue blade so that the captain could see it. Don hit the mute button again and whispered to Graham.

"Record this and send it to Lord Hood," he said.

"Yes, sir," Graham nodded.

"Next we demand that slut Paris Hilton to be taken to the nearest black hole and dropped into it," Telek continued. "Because we are certain that like light, tastelessness can not escape its gravitational pull. We hope that your on board AI will agree to be the one to take her—it will be a very noble sacrifice."

"Say what?!" Cornelius cried, horrified. "This guy is nuts!"

"The next thing that we demand is for Santa Claus to come," Telek continued. "Bringing with him a bag of coal the size your moon—sending it in c/o of the High Prophet of Truth in High Charity. Have it painted in festive red and green colors. He's been a very bad boy this year."

"He's been a bad boy every year," said Tekn.

"Yes, that's why the coal needs to be exceptionally huge," Telek agreed. "To cover for all those Christmases he missed. May the Ghost of Jacob Marley and the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Future haunt his craggily, old ass for the rest of his days!"

"Uh, we haven't mined for coal in several hundreds of years," said Don.

"I'm sure you can start back up again," Telek said. "You'll need to in order for Santa to deliver Truth's gift."

"Right," the Captain nodded.

"The next request is the immediate answer to that age old question," Telek continued.

"And what question is that?" Don asked.

"How many licks _does_ it take to get to the Tootsie Roll center of a Tootsie Pop?" Telek replied. "I mean you had 500 fucking years to figure that out! This question has been brought to our attention and our Prophet Hierarchs are still stumped. We demand an answer! This is not negotiable!"

"Yes!" Tekn cried. "For we don't have tongues and therefore cannot answer such a great and statuesque question. That is why we demand that you provide it to us."

"Finally," Telek said. "We demand pictures taken of a naked singularity."

"A what?" Don asked.

"Oh, excuse me," he corrected. "Let me see…" Telek pulled out a pair of spectacles and placed them on his nose. "Ah, yes. Pictures of a naked singularity. This is to be taken by Ms. Hilton upon passing the event horizon. This is not negotiable! I'm sure that being strung out like a piece of spaghetti will be an improvement on her looks. And don't forget the alcohol and the brownies."

"We demand brownies and alcohol!" Tekn cried. "Brownies!"

Don stepped back, completely mortified by these outrageous demands. This was the enemy? This is the Covenant?

"We're boxed in, right, Cornelius?" Don asked.

"No where to go…" the AI replied. "And he just robbed us of the sweet liberty of death by disabling our self-destruct." Cornelius started to cry. "What the hell kind of monsters are they? I can't believe that this is our enemy. Just give him the coordinates to Earth! Anything is better than this."

"Man, is he a pansy or what, Excellency?" Tekn snorted.

"I told you, I have no interest in your home world," Telek said. "The Covenant has spoken! Fulfill our demands and the prisoners go free—as well as we won't glass anymore of your planets."

There was a long pause. Then, just like that every crewmember in the bridge of the _Memphis _broke down in laughter.

"Oh my God!" Graham cried. "Who the hell are these guys?! Johnny Carson!"

"Johnny Carson hasn't been alive in 500 years," Don laughed. "And I'm sorry, but age and drugs got to Brittany Spears and Paris Hilton as well—500 years ago."

"Jay Leno is dead too," said Graham. "Again 500 years ago."

"I know," Telek chuckled. "But I wanted to see your reaction. Now, let's get down to the real business. There is something that I want you to understand, I never wanted this war to happen. If you see this ship again, it may have a new Ship Master for when I return to High Charity, I'll probably be executed for speaking to you. Okay, we'll hand over the prisoners now. Just give us whatever cases of booze you have stored in your ship and the parley will be concluded. I wan to be blind stinking drunk when my superior officer comes in telling me he'll have to arrest me for treason."

"That I can do," said Don. "Miller, you heard the man. Every case of alcohol you can find."

"Aye, aye, skipper!" Miller called.

Cases and cases of various alcoholic drinks filled Telek's office. He sat there, with his bare hooves on his desk, dressed in his bedclothes and red terry cloth bathrobe—beer mug in hand and a satisfied smile on his face. Not only did the humans give him beer and liquor, they gave him pretzels too. He handed over the three Marines to the _Memphis. _They thanked him for the hospitality that he gave them. And Telek thanked Captain Donald Reynolds for the beer. Telek stated to the captain that he hoped that this would be the first of many Sangheili/Human trade relations. After all he needed his sweet nectar.

Though, as Telek feared, he was caught the moment his five ships returned to Covenant space. The fleet _Particular Justice _was waiting for him. Telek's head was resting on his desk when Supreme Commander Otto 'Gamamee came walking in with guards behind him ready to arrest his Fleet Master. He found Telek completely intoxicated, beer cans scattered everywhere as well as various empty shot glasses, mugs, and martini glasses rolling around on his desk. The Fleet Master glanced up, eyes bloodshot, but his face had the look of disgust for his old mentor.

"I heard about what you did, Telek," Otto said. "So did the High Council. Therefore I had no choice but to tell them what you found out. You're being charged with treason and heresy. Put your armor on, you'll be standing before the High Council and the Hierarchs."

"I've got one thing to say to you, Otto," Telek growled. "Kiss my ass."

"My greatest student and my greatest disappointment," Otto sighed. "What you discovered has thrown you into madness. The only reason why I'm doing this is because I'm seeing someone who is suffering inside. Your life—suffers. Perhaps death will finally bring you peace."

"So, you'd have me executed," Telek leaned back in his chair. He started laughing wildly at Otto.

"Take him away," Otto sighed.

"You don't know what you've done, Otto!" cried Telek as the guards took him out of the office. "You don't know what you've done! It's all a lie! Everything is a lie! The Covenant, the Great Journey, the Prophets. It's a trick! The Halos will not grant us salvation, they'll only mean our deaths!"

"Enough of this!" Otto cried. "I deny all that you say! Why would our Lords do this to us?"

"They're not our Lords," Telek called. "They never were."

"What you say is heresy," Otto began. "I can no longer protect you. Let the Prophets judge your fate."

"Like how they've judged the humans?" Telek asked as he was dragged away.

"Spreading these lies about our Lord's designs," the High Prophet of Truth began as he read off the list of charges. "Reckless intoxication, making bargains with our enemies the humans. Insubordination. This is the last straw, Fleet Master Telek 'Herosee."

Telek stood coolly before the High Council as the murmurs of both Sangheili and Prophet voices were heard all around him. His fate was sealed the moment he stepped on High Charity.

"You never had a problem such as these before, Fleet Master," Truth continued.

"It was only when I found that I had been serving nothing more than a fairy tale, did I become so 'insubordinate'," Telek spat. "If you had any care for the Covenant, you will stop these lies now!"

"Silence, heretic!" Mercy cried.

"What did you discover, Fleet Master?" Truth asked. "Tell us. Tell us everything."

"The Halos," Telek began. "They will only spell out doom for us. They kill life, all life. All the life within the range of their pulse weapon. It doesn't matter whether they are good—evil, or indifferent. We all will die!"

Otto listened to the testimony of his Fleet Master and his eyes widened. How did Telek come by this? Where did he learn such information? Who told this to him? Then, he recalled the mission that he sent Telek on—the mission that changed him forever. The moment Telek returned from that mission, he was no longer Otto's student and dear friend. He was someone completely different. He looked like a being who's world had just blew up in front of his face.

"Lies!" Regret cried. "They're all lies! The Sacred Rings do no such thing! If they did, we would know. If they meant our end, then why are we searching for them?"

"Tell me, Regret, why are you searching for them?" Telek asked.

"You will not address me in such manner, Fleet Master!" Regret spouted.

"I will address you as I see fit, you wrinkly old prune," the Zealot sneered.

Gasps filled the council chamber as both the Sangheili and the minor Prophets just stood back—aghast. Telek heard a snort from the Chieftain of the Jiralhanae Tartarus. His fist wringed across his great battle hammer, the Fist of Rukt.

_Someday, I'm gonna slam that damned hammer into your head, you smelly ape, _Telek thought with disgust.

"Tell me!" Telek demanded. "To my Sangheili brothers, do you not remember the war? We were enemies once! We hunted you down and we hung your skulls up as trophies. The Prophets were our enemies once, and the more I look at their complacent faces, I see that they still very well may be. You already knew what the Halos do, Truth. I have no doubt in my mind that you already knew. It was just a matter of time before one of us finally wizened up to your schemes and now you wish to kill me to keep the truth from Sangheili ears. We followed you like mindless stooges. Well, you'll not have me so easily blinded."

"I have heard enough," Truth said. "It is with a heavy heart that I sentence you to death for high treason and heresy against the Covenant. You shall be branded and after you are dead, your body be placed on display as a warning to anyone of the evils of blasphemy."

"Blasphemy!" Telek spat. "You're the one who spouts it, not I. What the Forerunners left is a warning, they hold no salvation. They didn't leave to some sort of distant dimension, they died, you morons!"

"Take him away, Tartarus!" Truth cried. "Silence the heretic jackass for good!"

Tartarus chuckled sinisterly: "Of course."

Otto stood and watched as his old friend, ranting and raving was dragged from the council chamber. His head lowered and he took a solemn breath.

"Supreme Commander 'Gamamee," began Truth. Otto raised his head up and approached him. "Supreme Commander, I am deeply sorry for your loss."

"Forgive him, Holiness," Otto pleaded. "Please. Something…something did this to him. I don't know what. He's mad, that's all."

"And we shall free him from his madness," said Truth. "You know what was to be done about this the moment you turned him in."

"I knew," Otto said. "But…"

"I understand why you feel this way," Truth continued smoothly. "He was your greatest pupil and he has brought much credit to you. His battle tactics are second to none. But his feelings about the humans and these lies that he speaks of are a danger to us all. If you had not come to us about this, he would have betrayed the Covenant and surrendered his knowledge to the humans. Now, what he knows will be kept from them."

"Telek and the humans…" Otto shook his head in dismay. "In some ways I see it happening. But when he is killed…"

"We'll think no more of it," Truth said. "Go and see your old friend one last time."

Otto bowed his head and left. He left to watch Tartarus brand his greatest pupil a heretic.

_**1130 hours, October 13 2546 (Military Calendar)/Earth**_

Three months had passed since the _Memphis _had met the _Shade of Darkness_ and the negotiations between Telek and Reynolds concluded and the report was sent back to Earth and to the Office of Naval Intelligence. Lord Hood sat with Captain Donald Reynolds while Commander Jacob Keyes watched over through satellite feed from Reach as they listened to the recording.

"_Alright. Let's get on with the negotiations. What is it do you want in return for the prisoners?"_

"_My first demand is for you to bring me an Olympic-sized pool filled with either vodka or Jack Daniels. Either one will be fine. This is to be delivered to me by John Wayne. My next demand is for your chef to make me and my crew some 'special brownies'. These brownies must be the size of a Spirit drop-ship. My next demand is for the 'special brownies' to be delivered to my ship by Stephen Hyde. Next, we demand the Immortal Jonny Carson's return to the Throne of Prominence and the unholy usurper Jay Leno executed and his head brought to the Covenant on a silver platter. For that is the reason why we started this war in the first place."_

"Jonny Carson?" Hood asked. "This Elite knew about Johnny Carson?"

"It doesn't end there," said Don.

"_Next is Brittany Spears!"_

"_You want us to bring you Brittany Spears?"_

"_No! We want her knocked up one more time! Preferably with a plasma sword. I shall donate my sword for the job. Next we demand that slut Paris Hilton to be taken to the nearest black hole and dropped into it. Because we are certain that like light, tastelessness can not escape its gravitational pull. We hope that your on board AI will agree to be the one to take her—it will be a very noble sacrifice. The next thing that we demand is for Santa Claus to come. Bringing with him a bag of coal the size your moon—sending it in c/o of the High Prophet of Truth in High Charity. Have it painted in festive red and green colors. He's been a very bad boy this year."_

"Oh, it gets better," Don smiled when he saw the other two laughing.

"_The next request is the immediate answer to that age old question."_

"_And what question is that?"_

"_How many licks _does_ it take to get to the Tootsie Roll center of a Tootsie Pop? I mean you had 500 fucking years to figure that out! This question has been brought to our attention and our Prophet Hierarchs are still stumped. We demand an answer! This is not negotiable!"_

Hood just broke out in laughter when he heard that. Jacob could be heard laughing behind him from the screen, shaking his head as well.

"This is brilliant," Hood stated. "How the hell did he know so much about our culture?"

"Well, I believe it's because it's possible that the Covenant had been tuning into old Earth broadcasts from the late 20th century and on," said Don. "It's possible that shows that aired 500 years ago are just now being picked up by the Covenant. He knew about the Peabody Hotel in Memphis, Tennessee, and the fact that they walk the ducks out to the fountain every day there. And he knew about Graceland."

"I'm guessing he's an Elvis fan," Hood shook his head in dismay. "And then what happened?"

"Well, after the negotiations were over, he left," said Don. "We checked the three Marines. They were clean. We even called several other ships in the area to see if he'd come back with a fleet. He didn't."

"This is undoubtedly the first time a human spoke to a Covenant and survived," said Jacob Keyes. "You said his ship disabled your self-destruct?"

"I don't know how the hell he did it," Don sighed. "It's possible that other Covenant ships can too, but the problem is that they don't cloak."

"We never see the cloaked ships," said Hood. "We just see the damage they do. And I'm guessing they are a part of Telek's fleet."

"The Marines had informed me that Telek's ship is one of 10 cloaking ships," said Don. "Five of them were with him when we met him outside of Yale…"

"Who the hell named a planet Yale?!" Hood growled.

"Somebody went to Harvard," Jacob chuckled. "Alright, it's settled. I want to meet this Telek 'Herosee."

Don shook his head and glanced away: "He said that he maybe executed for the negotiations for he was going against the Covenant in doing so."

"A shame," Hood sighed. "I would have loved to wonder if any other negotiations, and perhaps alliances could be worked out by this—Elite Benedict Arnold. We could benefit from the information he could share with us. From the report filed by Sergeant Eliot Manning, Telek 'Herosee holds a deep and grudging hatred towards the Covenant and their Prophets. He'd be a perfect source of vast information we could use on the Covenant. Weapons, language, tactics, ship designs, their culture—everything! And he would probably have handed it to us."

"With a price, no doubt," said Jacob. "Defecting from the Covenant would mean a cut off from their supplies and fuel for his ships. He probably want supplies from us."

"A price gladly paid," said Hood. "But if he is dead, then there is no use in discussing it. What about those who were loyal to him?"

"Probably executed or sent to prison now," said Don.

"A shame," Lord Hood sighed. "A shame."

"I don't know," said Jacob. "I've been getting strange reports of five Covenant war ships wondering around the outskirts of the remaining Outer Planets with the age old pirate symbol the Jolly Roger painted on their flanks. One especially was an assault carrier. One minute they're there, the next they're gone. Cloaking technology."

"That assault carrier," Don began. "The _Shade of Darkness…_the Jolly Roger…_"_

"_No, that means we're pirates," _Don remembering what Telek said._ "Wait—that could be useful for later. Keep that one…"_

Then, he started laughing after that. Jacob went over the reports he had received.

"One particular report was about the capture of the Covenant assault carrier known as the _Mercy and Reconciliation_," he began. "The report was that they saw the other assault carrier—the one that could cloak—tow the _Mercy and Reconciliation _to one of our colony stations. Then, the ship left, leaving the disabled assault carrier at the station. When the personnel went out to investigate the _Mercy and Reconciliation_, they found paper arrows strung out all over the place, leading them to the bridge of the ship, and even pointing to controls on the ship's holographic consol with detailed instructions on how to operate the ship. The ship was empty. No crew, nothing. It was full though of weapons and vehicles that a carrier like that would hold. Here's the thing that really put a laugh on everyone who saw the ship. It had a bow on top of it with a card that stated: 'It has to be someone's birthday somewhere, so here is their present. I give to them the Covenant carrier _Mercy and Reconciliation_. May they use it well to protect their world.' It was signed the 'Pirates of Orion.' Maybe it's Telek, maybe it's not. But who ever it is—I wanna shake their hand, or claw, or whatever they've got. We're already debugging the ship as we speak, making sure it doesn't have any sort of devices that the Covenant could track. Once that's done, she'll be ready for UNSC registration."

"You plan on using that ship?" Lord Hood asked.

"I intend not to look at a gift horse in the mouth," Jacob replied. "Yes. We intend to use it."

He paused for a moment as his assistant came in handing him another note. Jacob Keyes glanced down at the file and then chuckled once more. He nodded and thanked the assistant.

"We've got another captured ship," said Jacob. "A frigate called the _Devout Regent._ And another note: 'I intend on replacing every UNSC ship that was destroyed within the last 30 years since this war began. This is my way of leaving this universe with a clean conscience.' Ah, and it's signed Telek 'Herosee, Covenant Separatist."

"Telek…" Don breathed. "He's alive."

"Well, looks like we may still have a chance at some sort of an alliance with this—ex-Covenant pirate," Lord Hood said. "I'll order any ship who sees any Covenant ship baring the Jolly Rodger to report the location of those ships. They should hold off on the Cole Protocol and perhaps make contact with those ships first. If the ships become unfriendly, then follow the Protocol guidelines."

He picked up the whisper of the ship as it came closer to his own. This ship was coming dangerously close to one of the human colony worlds that his five ships guarded in silent invisibility. The scar on his chest still ached from the burn and he rubbed it constantly. He was branded with the Mark of Shame, a mark that signified him as a heretic, a traitor to the Covenant. He was marked to be executed, but he escaped with the help of his loyal crew—his friends. Five ships jumped through slip-space away from High Charity, and had been jumping since. They were through running and through hiding.

Telek had made changes to his ship in the three months since his escape from incarceration and his sentence to be executed. The holy symbols on his armor were scratched out and instead of them—the Jolly Roger was painted. Every crewmember on board his ship and the four other ships loyal to him had the Jolly Roger on their armor. Even their ships had it painted on their flanks. It was an identifying marker that showed the universe that they were not Covenant. Not only that, but he disabled and destroyed every tracker that would lead the Covenant to his ship.

"We've got another Covenant cruiser, Excellency," said Tekn. "Coming in for the trap."

"_Particular Justice _markings?" Telek asked.

"Yes, Excellency," said Tekn. Telek raised his shot glass and took a swig.

"Let's take her," he smiled. "Yo, ho, yo, ho, a pirate's life for me."

"We can't, Excellency," began Tekn. "Slip-space ruptures."

"Telek!" called Cujo, his face appearing on the screen. "More ships are arriving. I think they're picking up the faint whispers of our engines."

"Then, we'll have to run," Telek sighed. "We can't face an entire fleet."

"Excellency!" called Tulsa 'Yuromee. "They know we're here. My sensors are picking up attempted locks. They're following my engine trails."

"Otto's getting smarter," Telek sighed. "Prepare for slip-space jump. Random coordinates. Just go anywhere. Cujo, Mitsu, Tulsa, Tulsa, here are the coordinates. Let's go."

Multitude of Covenant ships began to open fire on the shimmering stars and whispers that their sensors picked up. All five separatist ships began to speedily plow their way out of the barrage of blue fire aimed towards them.

"Damned bloody trap!" Telek growled. "That ship was a decoy. The others were just lying outside of sensor range."

He felt his own ship began to shake and tremble slightly.

"That was a little close!" Telek called.

"Excellency!" called Tulsa 'Yuromee. "My engines have been hit! They've disabled my slip-space drive."

"'Yuromee!" called Tulsa 'Duroshee.

"I can't come with you," said the Ship Master of the _Celestial Guard_. "I'm de-cloaking and surrendering."

"No!" called Telek. "They'll kill you."

"At least they won't get a hold of you, Excellency," he said. "Nor my little and big brothers. I can't come. Go. Jump. I'll be fine."

"We're sitting ducks out here if we don't go now," said Mitsu. "'Yuromee, watch your back."

"Keep little Tulsa safe," said Tulsa 'Yuromee. "Now, go."

Tulsa 'Duroshee just shook his head, trying desperately to fight the tears that were stinging his steely blue-white eyes.

"Random coordinates," said Telek. "Goodbye, old friend."

From inside the _Celestial Guard_, Tulsa 'Yuromee watched as the other four ships disappeared through their slip-space ruptures. He glanced back at the other screen, watching the Covenant fleet slowly approach him. His cloak was disabled and they could see him now plain as day.

"I won't be executed for knowing the truth," he said. "Nor doing what's right. If I'm to die, I'll take a bunch of you bastard Prophet-kissers to hell with me."

He pressed a sequence of buttons on his holo-panel and turned to hear the sound of sirens whine through the corridors. He had initiated his self-destruct sequence. Tulsa smiled weakly and sat down on the platform of his bridge, waiting for his ship to explode in a blue nimbus, taking some of the approaching ships out with him.

Because of some of the minor damage, coming out of slip-space was a bit rocky. But his ship managed. As soon as the four remaining ships came through, they were met with a surprise at the end. Telek saw in front of him a red-colored gas giant with two moons. Orbiting the planet was also a large ring. Upon further inspection, there looked to be landmasses and oceans inside the rim of the ring.

"Tekn, do you see it?" he asked.

"Yes, Excellency," Tekn replied.

"Call up the Text," Telek ordered. "Cujo, Mitsu…Tulsa…"

"We're here," said Cujo. "Tulsa's a bit shaken though."

"He didn't have to sacrifice himself!" Tulsa bellowed. "What am I supposed to tell little Tulsa?"

"Tell him the truth," said Telek.

"Yes, Excellency," Tulsa sniffed.

"Excellency," began Tekn. "According to the Forerunner text, this is Halo Instillation 05."

"Does it have that virus on it?" Telek asked.

"No," Tekn replied.

"Ship Masters, I believe we've found a refuge for the moment," Telek said. "Welcome to our new home."

"Live on Halo?" Cujo asked.

"For now," said Telek. "Another thing. With giving the captured ships to the UNSC, no doubt we've probably made some friends. I think an alliance is desperately needed."

"As it is said," said Tekn. "An enemy of our enemy is our friend. One question, do we tell them about Halo?"

"No," said Telek. "Not yet. I've given them a hint, but that's all. I don't want the humans thinking that this thing be something they could use. No one should ever use Halo for its intended purpose. And we'll not go looking for the Control Room nor the Index to do so. So, no exploring except for shelter and food."

"Yes, Excellency," nodded Tekn.

"Well, we better make ourselves comfortable," Telek said. "And plan for a rendezvous with the humans. It'll be awkward at first because they don't know our mannerisms. But aren't all relationships like that in the beginning?"

"I suppose parley will be a word we'll use often," said Cujo.

"Until they can trust us," said Telek. "Let's land."


End file.
